


Maserati F1 Team

by pandacorn24



Series: The Girl In Formula One [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Asian Character(s), Female Driver F1, Female Protagonist, Formula One, Gen Z Protag, Gender Inequality, Male-Female Friendship, OC, Panic Attacks, Racing Car Vroom Vroom, Social Media, Swearing, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-11-21 06:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18138764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandacorn24/pseuds/pandacorn24
Summary: The swarm of reporters looked positively feral. I have never been more terrified of a bunch of people with microphones and cameras."Maserati has returned to Formula One after over a decade, with a new lineup,""Liam Fiammetta and Jacqueline Song are the two new faces in this season of Formula One,"Liam placed his hand on my back and slowly guided me through the crowd.***Maserati returns to Formula One and brings in an Italian male driver and a Chinese-Australian female driver.





	1. December, 2020

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam Fiammetta AKA @fiabetterthanyou and Jacqueline Song AKA @sojihye announce to the world their Formula One Numbers. Jacqueline returns to her home; Australia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Melbourne GP 2019. Gah! Poor Daniel Ricciardo!! 😭😭😭.
> 
> Congrats to Valtteri Bottas for winning the race, and Lewis Hamiton and Max Verstappen who made the podium as well. Dear god, I search up Melbourne GP and every headline and photo is just Daniel Ricciardo.
> 
> I wasn't /there/ in Melbourne, I'm like 900km up in Sydney soooooo.
> 
> But that was an amazing start to the 2019 World Cup (not for Ricciardo tho).

I looked on over at the engineers stressing out over the tires and engines of Liam's car. I sighed and slid the headphones over my ears.

Maserati was thinking of going back into Formula One, not  _ thinking _ more like  _ working _ . Their board had given them the green light to trying and Maserati  _ definitely _ had enough money to get the support, they acquired their drivers and now, here we are.

"Are you ready?" Liam asked me, scaring the crap out of me.

"Ready? For what?" I asked, sliding the headphones off.

"Formula One of course," He blinked in confusion, "We'll be debuting in March, it's December right now, not too long to go,"

Of course, I'm not ready. I'm sixteen, I can bearly go outside without someone asking where my parents are.

"No," I answer shortly, "By no means am I ready of Formula One, I'm an anxious pickle right now,"

Liam raised an eyebrow at my pickle comment.

”A pickle,” he nodded, his Italian accent made it funnier, “right, kids these days,”

I laughed and everyone looked at me. I immediately stopped. Do you know how awkward it is when everyone stops what they’re doing and looks at you?

Ally finally stopped flirting with some engineer and  _ actually  _ paid attention to me. Her jaw slackened and she pointed to Liam.

”You made her laugh, god, she hasn’t laughed in so long, and you made her laugh,”

That’s a lie! I so have laughed! But I guess I was mainly mopey faced for the past three weeks.

“Have you decided whether to go home for Christmas and New Years?” Liam asked., “You know, being your teammate I need to know,”

“If I’m going back, doesn’t that mean she’s going back? I  _ am _ her agent ya know,” Ally smiled.

Ally Gold is my best friend and probably the only  _ real _ female friend that I have. She’s my agent and friend so the trust between us is real. The thing is, Ally has this major crush on one of my engineers (I’m pretty sure his name is Peter or something) and mainly I’m worried that I’ll lose my agent  _ and _ engineer.

”Yeah, I’m going back, leaving today actually” I sighed, “Nothing left to do here in Italy, did we get everything on the list?”

Ally pulled out the list and scanned over it.

”Yep, we got everything your mum asked for, you can still get stuff from the duty-free store, remember?”

”Great, I don’t want her to nag about how I forgot some designer purse or some shit,”

Truthfully, my mum is both a goddess and Satan. She was  _ extremely _ bitter about the fact that I was going to stay in Italy for a while, you see, she’s always wanted to go, but she also wants to stay with family and my younger brother doesn’t exactly want to see architecture and drink wine (not that he’s allowed, if he was, then he’d go).

I held my hand out to Ally in a silent ask for my phone.

“Ah right,” She realised and dug around in her handbag, “It’s  _ right _ here!”

She handed me my phone and I give a silent thanks and pocket it. My phone isn’t anything flashy, I’ve had it since I was 12, I’m turning 17 this year so I’m thinking of replacing it. The battery life is truly horrifying these days.

“Well, I should probably get back to training,” Liam smiles, “Have a nice trip, Jacqueline,”

And then he turned and walked out, his agent trailing behind him reading an article on his tablet.

“Did Matteo get to you about posting the car number thing yet?” Ally asked me as we exited the Maserati F1 building.

Matteo Cancio is our team principal. He’s this tall, formidable looking man with greying hair and hawk-like eyes. He seems terrifying, but in reality, he might just be worse. He’s definitely strict, what with his sharp tongue and icy cold glare, but he’s also kind and understanding.

Just don’t get on his bad side. I should know, in July, Liam and I had a twitter fight and Matteo literally logged into the official Maserati F1 twitter and told us off.

And that car number thing Ally was talking about? So Matteo asked me and Liam to post on our Instagrams our car numbers for the 2021 Formula One season.

I have the post in my drafts but I didn’t know when to post it. Matteo said to post it after the official Instagram posted the ‘reveal’.

He also told me to post it once I got back to Australia so that simpled things dramatically.

Ally hailed a cab, her striped blazer and white blouse blowing in the wind.

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked as the taxi pulled up.

She looked over at me and laughed, “No, not really, the blazer is insulated,”

Ally opens the back door and gestures me in, “ _ Aeroporto Internazionale, per favore _ ,”

How was she not cold? I wrapped the winter coat tighter around me as Ally straightened her blazer.

“Ready to burn in the Aussie heat?” She asked playfully.

“Extremely, at first, I was excited to see snow and now it’s just like,  _ give me the sun _ ,”

Ally laughed.

* * *

 “God, that was agony on my back,” Ally groaned stretching her arms wide as the passengers started disembarking the plane, “Did you sleep,”

I looked over at her with tired eyes and she stopped. I can’t sleep on planes, and Ally knows that. I just spend basically a whole day flipping through the strategy book a strategist had given me, written in English, and ordering around a thousand hot chocolates and apple juices.

“No,” I answered shortly, rubbing my eyes which I’m sure had dark circles under them, “Do you have concealer?”

Ally nodded and powered on her phone, “It’s 7:06, on Saturday,”

“Ally, can you call my mum,” I groaned, Ally nodded “Tell her that I’m ready to sleep for a week,”

“No time for sleep just yet.” She said shortly.

“Why,” I moan.

“I’m pretty sure Instagram awaits you and your amazing post,” 

Ally got up and took down our carry on bags.

“Can I just stay here?” I asked, acting like the 16-year-old I am.

“No, I’m pretty they’ll care security if you stay,”

“Seriously?”

“Yes,” Ally answered, pulling the carry-on suitcase, “Now hurry up, I just flew first class and I want the world to know, can I use your hotspot?”

I basically throw my phone at her and got up from the seat.

“Are you hungry? I don’t think you ate a lot, just Macca’s before we boarded and you bought the sushi for the trip, c’mon, let’s get food,”

I have the bestest best friend in the world! I grinned and practically dragged Ally off of the plane.

“Also, here’s the concealer you needed.”

* * *

My plane of sleeping for the rest of the day was ruined by Liam. I was determined to sleep the jetlag off but Liam apparently wasn’t having it. Every time I declined his call, he would call again. You’d think he’d give up after a while, I mean, he’s on the other side of the world.

“ _ Ciao _ , Jacqueline,” His wide smile filled my tiny phone screen.

“What do you want,” I scowled, I knew I looked like shit.

“You might want to check your Instagram, 8 million likes and over 6 million subscribers, plus verification!”

I threw my phone into my pillow. I wanted to sleep, not be pranked by my Formula One teammate.

“ _ Non sto scherzando, sono molto serio, _ ” He continued to babble in Italian.

“ _ 他妈的闭嘴，我想睡觉 _ !” I yell into the phone.

“What? You know I can’t understand Chinese,”

I turned the phone on speaker and chucked it again.

“I said,  _ fucking shut up, I want to sleep _ !”

“Ohhh, jetlag,  _ scusa ho dimenticato _ ,”

I groaned and hung up on him, but not before checking my Instagram just in case.

Liam hadn’t been lying, within the 5 hours after I posted a simple picture of a Maserati car with the caption ‘ _ Car No. 24. Driving for Maserati F1 Team. Coming 2021 _ ’ the post had been liked 8254781 times, with multiple comments and somehow I had been verified.

“What the fuck,” I whispered, refreshing the page and sure enough, there was a blue tick next to the handle--  _ my _ handle; @sojihye.

I screamed. Not a high-pitched typical teenage girl scream, a loud elated scream of joy.

“Where’s the fire,” Sebastian burst in holding a nerf gun as if that’s going to help in a fire!

“Seok Chul! I’m verified on Instagram,”

Sebastian is my younger brother by three years, we’re both from Chinese-Korean decent so both our names have a Korean counterpart, but not a Chinese one for some reason.

Seb sighs and lowered the nerf gun, “Jesus, Ji Hye, I thought you were dying,”

“I think I might,” I replied breathlessly.

“MUM! Ji Hye’s being a girl again!”

* * *

 

“ _ Vedi, non stavo mentendo, ti avrei mentito? _ ” Liam laughs after I called him again.

“ _ Sì, sembri una persona che potrebbe mentire a una povera ragazza ignara, a volte sei un pervertito _ ,” I reply back in Italian.

Talking in Italian is the best way to make sure Seb can’t overhear my conversations.

“A pervert!” Liam yells, offended by the comment, “Me? I don’t think so, I’ve been every bit a gentleman!”

“ _ Sì, un pervertito, correggimi se sbaglio _ ” 

“You’re definitely wrong!  _ Sono un gentiluomo! _ ”

“Stop talking in Italian! I can’t understand what the hell you’re saying!” Seb yells from outside my door.

“That’s the point,” I yell back.

He groans and storms away.

“ _ 바보, 듣지 마, _ ” I yell after him.

“What did you say?” Liam asked.

“I said, idiot, don’t listen.” I rolled my eyes, “You’d think for a fourteen-year-old he’d be more mature,”

“Boys don’t mature until they get past puberty,” Liam said sagely, “I should know, I was like that with my sister until I was 19,”

“Really, so you weren’t always a  _ 위대한 남자, _ ”

“I’m going to guess and say you said gentleman,”

“Close enough, I said a great man,”

“Nice, have you seen my post?”

I opened the Instagram app and showed my laptop screen.

“We’re both verified!” I cheered.

“You have so much more followers than me,” He laughed, glancing past his handle.

I chose Liam's handle. Liam Leonardo Fiammetta. That's his full name, I punned his name and made his handle @fiabetterthanyou.  I grinned. It was true, I had hit 6.6M followers, that was massive. Before I posted that picture, I had only 50K followers tops.

“You look stunning in that profile picture btw,”

“I gave you photo credit, that’s good right?”

“Amazing, if I don’t make it as an F1 driver then I can pursue a career in photography.”

“Your bangs look weird,” Liam commented.

“Yeah? Should I grow them out then?” I turn to my mirror and straighten my black bangs.

“Maybe you should do that thing when you can hide your bangs, so you both have it and don’t have it,”

"That's a good idea, I nod in approval,"

"Get ready," Liam says, his tone surprisingly serious.

"For what?"

" _P_ _er l'inferno_ ,"

It seems like the rumours have started. _Get ready for hell_. Fitting Liam, really fitting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRANSLATIONS!! (BTW I used google translate for like, everything so don't bash me for the wrong terms, just kindly comment and I'll fix it)  
> \- Aeroporto Internazionale, per favore = International Airport, please  
> \- Ciao = Hello (duh)  
> \- Non sto scherzando, sono molto serio = I'm not kidding, I'm very serious  
> \- 他妈的闭嘴，我想睡觉 = Fucking shut up, I want to sleep  
> \- scusa ho dimenticato = sorry, I forgot  
> \- Vedi, non stavo mentendo, ti avrei mentito? = See, I wasn't lying, would I have lied to you?  
> \- Sì, sembri una persona che potrebbe mentire a una povera ragazza ignara, a volte sei un pervertito = Yes, you look like a person who could lie to a poor unsuspecting girl, sometimes you are a pervert  
> \- Sì, un pervertito, correggimi se sbaglio = Yes, a pervert, correct me if I'm wrong  
> \- Sono un gentiluomo! = I'm a gentleman!  
> \- 바보, 듣지 마 = Fool, don't listen  
> \- 위대한 남자 = A great man  
> \- Per l'inferno = For hell


	2. January, 2021

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News conferences, news articles and rumours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Includes: Press Conference Transcript Layout, a very much Fake Article, Comments with Fake Usernames (if one of them is yours, I'm sorry, you're just unlucky of smth)
> 
> Welcome to the sexist/bias world of journalism. *jazz hands*
> 
> Lol, I was so pissed when I was writing Jacqueline's response to one of the questions, I kinda let myself answer a little bit of it instead of Jacqueline, but I relate a lot about it.

“Ally, this is ridiculous, I can’t even go out and get groceries without being recognised!”

I’m in Italy again, and we ran out of milk in our hotel room. I’m walking down the street, one hand with groceries and the other holding my phone, only vaguely aware that people were pointing and whispering as I passed.

“And these headlines,” I continue, passing a newsstand, “‘Maserati F1 Driver bribes way in’, it's clear they aren’t exactly talking about homeboy,”

“Did you get the milk?” She asks, completely ignoring me, “I can’t even make cereal,”

“Yes I got the milk,” I use my elbow to push open the door, “But did _you_ get me a lawyer so I can sue people for defamation?”

“No, not yet, it isn’t that bad right now,”

“ _Not that bad_ ,” I repeated in indignation, “I’m being _slammed_ for the most idiotic reason!”

“Like?” She tiredly asks.

“Like putting milk before cereal, and before you laugh, I literally just passed a newsstand that had that headline, _Jesus_ , the Italian are brutal sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Ally scoffs, “I got yelled at by an old lady for not dressing properly,”

“So you’ll get me a lawyer, ‘coz I’m going to snap soon,”

“Sure I’ll get you a bloody lawyer, get me my bloody milk!’

“I have your bloody milk,” I grit out, a vein throbbing in my head, “Will you shut up about your goddamn milk, it’s just a carton of _milk_ ,”

“Listen, keep your head down and hope for the best right now,” She says calmly, “If we act before the season, you’ll be slammed more, we can ask Matteo for a conference or something, but lashing out will only make matters worse,”

I exhale the cold January air and reach our hotel.

“Fine, I’m going to the office tomorrow, the sooner we get this sorted out, the better,”

There’s silence on Ally’s end before I hear her open her mouth again.

“And yes, I got your damn milk,” I cut her off, “Now let me in the room,”

“Good, it better be organic,”

“It’s freaking milk!” I hiss, “Don’t complain about fucking milk, it’s white, it’s a liquid and it comes from a cow udder,”

"You just ruined milk for me,"

* * *

 “So, press conference on the 20th,” Ally turns to me, spinning around on her wheely chair.

I look up at her from my bed and look back down to my book.

“Change the date,” I say shortly.

“I can’t change the date,” She replied shorter.

There’s a pause.

“Why not?” I ask innocently, bookmarking my page.

“No other date,” Ally answers, checking her emails, “You’re booked for the rest of the month, then there’s car reveals and test running in February, then the season starts in March,”

“Do you remember _why_ the 20th was empty?”

“Because— oh shit,” Ally finally realises.

“Because it’s my mum’s birthday, I’m can’t have a press conference on my mum’s birthday,” I flip open my book again, “I need to video call her and smother my mother in love,”

“Fucking— that’s why, crap,” Ally mutters and reaches over to her phone and calls someone.

“Who are you calling?”

“Anthony, you know, Liam’s agent,”

Oh I know Anthony alright. He looked ready to kill me the last time I saw him. Though, to be fair, I did say ‘Begone _THOT_ ’ everything we were in the same room.

“Why are you calling Tony?”

“Because,” She groans as he doesn’t pick up, “If you can’t do the 20th, then we need to reschedule, and I don’t know when Liam is free,”

“Ok,” I nod and set my book onto the bedside table, “Why don’t you just call Liam then?”

She looks over blankly at me, “You think drivers know their schedules? Hell no, do _you_ know what you have tomorrow?”

My mind hit a dead end, “Uh, training?”

“No, you have a meeting, nice try,”

“Thank you, I do try,”

“As I can see,” She tsks.

Uh oh. Mum tsk of disappointment.

We have a staring contest for a while, Ally with her quirked eyebrows of knowledge and me with my narrowed eyes of defiance. I eventually cave.

“Fine, I’ll do the fucking press conference on the 20th,” I grumble, rolling my eyes and folding my arms like a child.

Ally clicks her tongue in victory, “Attagirl,”

It’s not like I _wanted_ video call my mother, she _always_ has something to say.

“Order a ton of flowers for my mum though,”

“One step ahead of you, peonies?”

“You tell me if you’re one step ahead of me”

* * *

 I zipped up the official Maserati team jacket for the nth time. Liam lent on the opposite wall, drumming his fingers on his thighs.

“Nervous?” I ask.

His eyes look dead, “Not for me, for you,”

Well, I am too, so there! Jesus, I have the worst foreboding feeling that I’m going to die.

The building was swarmed by reporters carrying cameras, notepads and feral looks. A tall woman talks into her earpiece before approaching us.

Ally and Anthony straighten behind us and Liam gets off the wall. I stop fiddling with my zipper.

“It’s time,”

Liam gives me a look and him and Anthony go ahead, Ally slowly leading me behind them.

“Ready?” Ally whispers as we reach the entrance, I can hear the cameras going off for Liam.

“No, but I don’t have a choice,” I sigh, “Ally, I’m fucking terrified,”

“We all are, just, be yourself, charm everyone into liking you,” Ally smiles, “And don’t answer like Kimi Räikkönen,”

I have no idea if she’s joking or not, but OK. Sure. Don’t answer like Räikkönen.

“Jacqueline Song,”

I finally understand why it’s called ‘deer caught in headlights’. The collective flash from the cameras almost blinded me. And I’m blind enough. I adjust the headset microphone and take a seat next to Liam overlooking the sea of reporters.

“OK, first question for Liam Fiammetta,”

 **Q:** **Can you address the return of Maserati to Formula One?**

 **Liam FIAMMETTA:** Well, uh, Maserati are returning to Formula One, just that. Um, sorry, this is my first time doing this, uh, they’ve been thinking about returning for a while now, but it took a while for the green light of approval but I’ve been with Maserati for around two years, working with them, so this isn’t a sudden thing.

Liam gives an awkward smile as a bunch of reporters jot notes down.

**Q: Jacqueline, can you confirm the rumours surrounding your role in Maserati?**

I blink in annoyance and look for Ally who is pinching her nose and trying to stifle a groan.

 **Jacqueline SONG:** Uh, is there anything _to_ confirm? I’ve been at Maserati for around the same time as Liam, but by rumours to address,  you want me to confirm them then that’s a different story. Um, _none_ of the rumours are true, they are just, you know, _rumours_ . Speculation that I had to _sleep_ with someone to get my place is alarming considering I was thirteen when I first joined the project so I honestly don’t know what you mean.

The reporter had a gall to look sheepish as Liam shoots me a warning glare.

 **JS:** So to answer your question, no. I cannot confirm the rumours surrounding my role in Maserati as a driver and as a member.

This was a bad idea.

 **Q:** **(John Lewis — Motorzine) You mentioned you were thirteen (13) when you first joined Maserati and you’re sixteen (16) when the season begins, can you tell us about that?**

 **JS:** I was intrigued by motor-sport since I was really young, I’m pretty sure my first memory was watching Formula One on TV with my cousin and I wanted to start go-karting as soon as possible, which was actually one minute after my ninth birthday. It was, uh, it was really funny for my parents, because I didn’t know you couldn’t go kart at, uh, midnight.

There was some laughter in the crowd.

 **JS:** I tried to go kart when I was in Korea but the age limit for actual karts was eleven years old so I tried to get my cousin to enrol then let me use the kart. That didn’t work either. So I won a bunch of championships and suddenly my dad gets a call from Italy and, uh, Maserati.

I bite my lip and fiddle with my earrings a little.

 **JS:** And apparently Maserati wanted to get me as a driver and it took months of negotiation before my dad and I went to Italy to settle everything and that was a week after my thirteenth birthday. And I am sixteen right now, and I will be sixteen when March comes so there. Uh, sorry for rambling, I’m really nervous right now.

**Q: (Lillian Carmichael — BBC Sport) Liam, when are the cars going to be revealed? You posted a photo on Instagram about your car number with a car so we’re all curious.**

**LF:** Oh, that’s Jacqueline’s car, it was a prototype, there were making adjustments so, uh, yeah. Our cars are going to be revealed on February 17, we’re really excited about revealing them, they look awesome, we hope you guys have hopes for us.

 **JS:** Place bets, I want people to believe in us.

 **LF:** That too.

**Q: (Oliver Bianchi — Autosport) Are you two nervous to meet your racing heroes?**

**LF:** Well, you know the saying ‘never meet your heroes’, I’m quite nervous to meet everyone, they’re all amazing drivers and I feel like I need to prove myself.

 **JS:** All my racing heroes are either dead or retired so, *shrugs*.

**Q: (Peter Kourn — Washington Post) This isn’t the first time Maserati has had a female driver, can you tell us more about that?**

**JS:** Maserati believes that skill isn’t based off of gender, uh, Maria Teresa de Filippis, was the _first_ female driver and is considered a pioneer so why can’t there be female driver in motorsport?

**Q: (Alex Danvers — LTSF1) You both have home races this season, how do you feel competing not just for yourself but also for your country?**

**LF:** It’s going to be a test of pride racing against another Italian driver, uh, I’m confident I can prove myself in my country later in the season.

**Q: Jacqueline?**

**JS:** Is it bad that I want to destroy Daniel Ricciardo in March? *laughs* Melbourne is the first race of the season, it’s both the first chance Liam and I can prove ourselves but also, it’s my home race, uh, I want to try for podium or at least get points so Lella Lombardi isn’t the only female driver to have points.

 **LF:** Is the conference over now?

 **JS:** Yes? Oh ok, uh, have a nice day, don’t write mean things about us.

I rise from my seat and exit the room, Liam following after me. I finally remove the headset.

“At least I didn’t answer like Kimi Räikkönen,” I say in defense once Ally and Anthony reach us.

“You probably just started a fan-war with Daniel Ricciardo, that’s worse,”

“Psh no,” I laugh, I’m screwed, “This is fine, life is great,”

“That’s going to make headline tomorrow, sleeping in and hoping it was a dream might be better,”

* * *

 **Maserati Driver** **_Slams_ ** **Daniel Ricciardo**

By Katherine Cooper 20/01/21

[FIAMMETTA AND SONG PRESS CONFERENCE]

Whoa, did Jacqueline Song just declare _war_ on Daniel Ricciardo?

Liam Fiammetta and Jacqueline Song answered some questions at the Maserati Pre-Season Press Conference in Italy but when asked about racing home races the two had strikingly different answers.

“Is it bad that I want to destroy Daniel Ricciardo in March?” Song said before laughing it off.

Cool the tension. Will Daniel Ricciardo reply to the declaration of war?

…

…

…

…

Let’s see these two battle it out on the track during their homerace in March.

**_Comments:_ **

**kylep283** **  
** She’s just a newbie talking big, Dan will crush her

 **aussieaussieoioi** **  
** No, not all australians are that reckless, jesus, why are the two drivers representing our country so, idk, fierce

 **dehhtm** **  
** why is no one talking about jacqueline’s answer to the other questions? They were golden. She looked ready to kill someone at the rumour question.

 **noimnotinsane** **  
** omg, right! I was rlly pissed as well, y don’t u ask the boys that as well? #maseratigirl

 **dance_dance_revolution3** **  
** bruh, im dying to see a female driver on the track, #maseratigirl

* * *

 “Don’t. I already saw the articles,” I grumbled as I passed Ally in the kitchen.

“Daniel made a statement,”

I pipe up, so soon? “Oh, I didn’t see that, lemme see,”

Ally passes me her phone and I click on the video.

_[“Daniel, do you have a comment on Jacqueline Song’s declaration?”_

_“Huh? Oh, um, I look forward to Melbourne, the track will have a different dynamic with a girl in a car so, I’m ready to see how much a threat she is,”]_

I look up at Ally and hand her phone back.

“Do you regret it now?” Ally asks

“No, I regret not saying more now, I’m going to pulverise Ricciardo,” I growl.

“No, you have support,” Ally sets a cup of hot chocolate in front of me, “#maseratigirl is now a thing by the way, you’re getting _tremendous_ support from the female fans of Formula One,”

“Amazing, that’s great, but they should support me until they see me on the road, Maserati isn’t using me for publicity, they’re using me as a driver, and I intend to drive the car,”

She clicks her tongue again and passes me the daily newspaper.

**_Jacqueline Song è una cover per il vero pilota Maserati?_ **

I gawk at the headline. _Is Jacqueline Song a cover for the real Maserati driver?_ Are they for real!

“Now can you sue them for defamation?” I snarl.

“Jacqueline, no,” Ally sighs, “Once again, not ‘good enough’ for a defamation case,”

“They accused me of sleeping with a guy to get in, now they’re saying I’m not good enough to be the real driver! How is that not a good enough case?”

We drink in our coffee and hot chocolate in silence before Ally speaks up again.

“Did your mother enjoy the peonies?”

“No, she threw them in the garbage,” I snort sarcastically, “She adored them as always,”

“As expected,”

“Get ready for next month,” She grins, “It’s going to be _hell_ ,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE MEANING OF THE CHARACTER'S NAMES!!!!
> 
> (A some of the names of characters don't make sense in English so here are the actual meanings of their names:)
> 
> Jacqueline Song - 宋 杰奎琳 - 송 지혜  
> \- Jacqueline (English) = supplanter  
> \- 杰奎琳 (Jacqueline, but in Chinese) = 杰 means hero/heroic, 奎 means stride of man and 琳 means beautiful jade/gem (fitting, no guesses why I choose the name Jacqueline).  
> \- 지혜 (Ji Hye) = Wisdom (yeah, that's the literal meaning)
> 
> Liam Fiammetta  
> \- Liam (English) = protection (I'm sure the summary explains everything)
> 
> Alice Gold - Ally Gold  
> \- Alice (English) = noble  
> \- Ally = Nickname of Alice but also ally as in accomplice.
> 
> Matteo Cancio  
> \- Matteo (Italian) = gift of God
> 
> Sebastian Song - 宋 塞巴斯蒂安 - 송 석철  
> \- Sebastian (English) = "person from ancient city of Sebasta"  
> \- 塞巴斯蒂安 (Sebastian, but in Chinese) = 塞 means fortress, 巴 means greatly desire, 斯 means 'this', 蒂 means stem of plant and 安 means peaceful and tranquil.  
> \- 석철 = Tin and Iron (=strength basically)


End file.
